Million Robot Revolution Delayed

Terry Gou is CEO of electronics manufacturer Foxconn. He’s also a big proponent of replacing humans with robots in factories. Gou said Foxconn would replace human workers with a million robots in three years. That was three years ago.

Since that first announcement, Gou has indeed pursued robotics, developing his own robotic arms (or Foxbots as they’re called) to replace humans in his automated factories of the future. But his million robot workforce has yet to materialize.

What has materialized?

Earlier this year, Foxconn said it was preparing to deploy 10,000 Foxbots costing $20,000 to $25,000 to make iPhones. It was said the robots could produce some 30,000 devices a year and Foxconn would add some 30,000 robots annually.

studies have shown
properly programmed humans
are the bestest, cheapest bots available
problem is
humans willing to become robots for money
are becoming harder to find
at prices acceptable to the oligarchs

“Due to employee suicides, Foxconn installed suicide-prevention netting and asked employees to sign no-suicide pledges.Workers are also forced to sign legally binding documents guaranteeing that they and their descendants will not sue the company as a result of unexpected death, self-injury or suicide.”